The study of medieval history remains instrumental in understanding the structure of contemporary society, politics, culture, and more. One of the oldest scientific societies in the world, and the first research institute in the modern world based on co-operative scholarship, the Bollandist Society has played an indispensable role in this academic field. From the inception of the Society in 1607, the Bollandists have held to the audacious project of preserving and studying the vast literature of Christian sainthood, which took shape as the largest scientific and editorial enterprise in the Ancien Régime: the Acta Sanctorum. Today, it is in their journal, Analecta Bollandiana, that the Bollandists along with scholars from different parts of the world continue to critically edit, translate, and comment on texts relating to the saints.

This lecture will tell a unique story of resilience over more than four centuries during which the Bollandists suffered suppression and expulsion, theft and pillage, and the wrath of the Spanish Inquisition. The Bollandists are here today not only because they were capable of adapting to different environments but also because they were and are committed to innovation—as they must be all the more in these adverse times for the humanities. The next generation of historians must be acquainted with the work of the Society and encouraged to take advantage of the remarkable resources that it has preserved through the centuries.